CCrane is known for its rugged products, in the form of radios and WiFi antennas, the latter of which it produces for long-range outdoor use. The company stopped by the TPN set during the recent CES in Las Vegas to discuss its latest product, a new WiFi antenna.

The Super USB WiFi Antenna 4 is a portable device that can besuction-cupped to a window and CCrane claims it can pick up WiFi signals from up to one mile away. That distance represents best-case scenario, when no obstructions are present, so your mileage, or mile, may vary. The device even creates a personal hotspot so multiple devices can access its signal at one time. The antenna is expected to be released in the second quarter and, while there is no firm price, expect something in the $100 range.

Todd and Don interview Nortek‘s Rob Halligan about the new wireless speaker system called Korus, which instead of using wifi or Bluetooth, uses SKAA, a wireless hi-fi audio standard that won CES Innovation awards in 2010 and 2011. The benefit of SKAA is low latency and greater range, but the downside is that it’s not built-in to any smartphone, tablet or media player. This is solved via a dongle, the Korus Baton, a SKAA transceiver which comes in USB, Apple Lightning and Apple 30 pin variants. Plug it in to the PC, Mac or Apple device and you are good to go. An Android version is expected later in the year.

Using SKAA rather than wifi or Bluetooth also means that there’s no faffing around with SSIDs or pairing with PINs; it’s simply a case of pressing a button on the wireless speaker and the speaker locks onto the nearest Baton. Press the button again and it moves onto the next.

Korus currently have two speaker units for sale, the V400 and V600, priced at a penny shy of US$350 and $450 respectively on the Korus shop at www.korussound.com.

As widely rumoured, the MotorolaMoto X is coming to the UK and the rest of Europe. The specs and features seem as per the US version – touchless control for Google Now, Active Display, Connect extension for Chrome and twist to start camera. KitKat will be on the Moto X out of the box and as expected, it looks like Motorola’s touch on the OS has been relatively light, with the addition of apps such as Migrate and Assist which were seen previously in the Moto G.

All the latest wireless technology is included with Bluetooth 4.0 LE + EDR, wifi 802.11a/g/b/n/ac and LTE bands 800/1800/2600MHz (B20/B3/B7). Of course it has 2G and 3G as well. 10 MP rear camera and 2 MP HD front camera.

There’s no information in the press release regarding the customisations that are available in the US, only that there will be a black version and a white version. Update: Motorola have confirmed that Moto Maker will not be available at launch but they are exploring options.

The Moto X will be available in black from 1st February from Phones 4u, Carphone Warehouse, O2, Amazon and Techdata. The white Moto X will be an exclusive for Phones 4u for the first three months. Prices vary but start from GB£25 per month on contract or £380 SIM free and off-contract. As with the Moto G, that’s a pretty good price for a 4G SIM-free smartphone.

Do you wonder how the iPhone 5S compares to the first version? Maybe you just want to compare between 5S and 5 or 4S to see if you really want to upgrade. If you don’t have every iPhone to test your theories out on, then check out this video by Everything Apple Pro.

This YouTube video tries to show you how fast the different iPhones react. The 5S, 5C, 5, 4S and 4 all with iOS7 and the 3GS, 3G and 2G (EDGE) with their highest level of iOS software.

Things We Learned from this iPhone Speed Test

Some cases, the 2G out-performed the newer models (it turns off the fastest, for sure).

5S shows its lightning speed (when connected to Wifi)

You can see the size progression from each model

Unlocking all of them at once is pretty sweet!

It also shows that unless you want the fingerprint sensor and M7 co-processor functionality or if you want a colorful iPhone and the dynamic background of iOS7, then upgrading from the 5 or 4S might not be necessary at this time.

Wonder what Google Glass can do? How about fully automate your home! Vectorform, a company that develops new app technologies have come up with the concept to open a garage door, close shades or change the thermostat using Google Glass.

As Kevin Foreman said on the Vectorform blog:

After receiving our pairs of Glass, we’ve been ideating, designing, and developing with them over the last few weeks to see what new types of experiences they enable. In addition, I personally have decided to go “all in” with Glass, wearing the device throughout my entire day to find all of the benefits and drawbacks the device brings with it. Follow me after the break to experience what it’s like to live with Google Glass.

4 ideas of Vectorform were accepted by Google explorer program. Of course, you will need a smart home and your Glass will need to be tethered to your smartphone so the commands can be delivered over Wifi.

Still, this concept shows us how Glass can change our hands-free lives.

Great news for people who love to hang out in Starbucks, or who are using the local Starbucks as their “office”! Google has teamed up with Starbucks in order to bring a faster WiFi connection to all 7,000 company owned Starbucks stores that are located in the United States. Best of all, you will be able to use the newer, faster, WiFi at Starbucks for free!

According to Google, soon you will be able to visit Starbucks and surf the web at speeds that are up to 10 times faster than before. Do you live in a Google Fiber city? If so, Google is hoping to be able to make the WiFi connection at your local Starbucks to be up to 100 times faster than it used to be.

Of course, there is a bigger, more altruistic reason for offering faster, free, WiFi at Starbucks than to make things a bit easier for freelancers who use the coffee shop as an “office”. In times of trouble, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, people went to a Starbucks so they could use the store’s WiFi and connect to their loved ones. The upgrades to the WiFi will make that easier.

Google says that they will start rolling out the new, faster, WiFi starting this month. You will be able to tell when your local Starbucks has had the WiFi upgraded when you visit the store and notice you can log into the “Google Starbucks” SSID.

Thanks to the FCC you might be able to finally watch your Netflix from the plane.

Due to a proposal by the Federal Communications Commission, they are looking to take over a handful of newly acquired airwaves. The new spectrum could make your in-flight Wifi experience 30 times faster than what you experience now. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and several colleagues voted unanimously to move forward with this plan.

“The reality is that we expect and often need to be able to get online 24/7, at home, in an office, or on a plane,” said Genachowski.

Companies like gogo wireless will still be controlling in-flight Wifi and you will (for now) still have to pay a fee as you go. However, with a speed as good as a coffee shop, they expect more users pull out their smartphones and tablets to connect up and watch a movie, check email and surf the web while 30,000 feet in the air.

The new Wifi format will share 14.0-14.5 GHz of the spectrum. This will allow data transfer of up to 300 gigabits per second – shared by all aircrafts using Wifi at that moment.

Remote control vehicles are fun and remote control aircraft doubly so. Imagine then how much fun a remote control quadricopter is, especially when it’s controlled by wifi from your smartphone. Todd takes flying lessons from Parrot’s Julian.

The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is an update of the original AR.Drone, with the main difference being an HD camera on the drone which streams video footage of the flight back to the device so the operator can see what the Drone is seeing. The AR.Drone 2.0 is controlled via wifi from either an Apple or Android tablet/smartphone.

There’s some pretty sophisticated technology in the AR.Drone. For example, it has a downward-facing camera that the Drone uses to track motion over the ground. On a windy day, the Drone can hold position over a spot by using this camera to detect wind-blown motion and then compensate for it. Very clever and cool.

The AR.Drone is pricey enough but not unaffordable at $299. Available now from good retailers worldwide.

Wireless extenders are not new and tiny ones that sit right in your wall outlet are not even new. However, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, networking company TP-Link unveiled its latest — the TL-WA850RE. It brings a sleek look and a bit more functionality to these tiny extenders.

This one packs in wireless “n” which is the new standard, although it is backwards compatible with older standards as well. There is a host of features which company has oulined:

Supports domain name-based login for a more user-friendly setup experience

CD-less installation

Easily extend wireless coverage at a push of the Range Extender button

D-Link announced at CES today a range of IP cameras and routers with cloud connectivity for remote monitoring and viewing.

The two new cameras are the Cloud Camera 1050 (DCS-931L) and Cloud Camera 1150 (DCS-933L) which come with remote monitoring as standard via mydlink and mobile devices, but also offer new capabilities such as audio detection with image alerts based on sound, not just motion, and an integrated wireless repeater mode for expanded coverage that eliminates wi-fi dead zones and lets consumers easily add more Cloud Cameras without worrying about existing wireless coverage. That’s a pretty clever idea, building a repeater into the camera. Of course, these are 802.11ac devices and the 1150 also offers infra-red illumination for night operation.

To go with the IP cameras, D-Link’s new 11ac routers are the wireless AC1750 Dual-Band Gigabit Cloud Router and Wireless AC1200 Dual-Band Gigabit Cloud Router (aka DIR-860L and DIR-868L) which deliver speeds of up to 1750 Mb/s and 1200 Mb/s respectively by combining both 11ac and 11n technologies. In addition, both Cloud Routers offer easy remote network management with the free mydlink Lite app from an iPhone, iPad or Android device, which is interesting and could be useful in a number of environments.

“Catering directly to today’s increasingly mobile lifestyles, D-Link’s new Cloud Cameras and Cloud Routers offer the latest features and performance available for home network and monitoring needs,” said Daniel Kelley, Associate Vice President of Marketing, D-Link. “Keeping an eye on loved ones and valued possessions is easier than ever with greater Wi-Fi coverage and higher quality viewing and recording day and night. And, the new 11ac Cloud Routers give today’s connected homes with multiple user and high-bandwidth activities the ultimate in network performance and remote management capabilities.”

The cameras and routers will be available in the next few months – The Cloud Cameras 1050 and 1150 will be available in February for $79.99 and $99.99 respectively. The dual-band gigabit Cloud Routers DIR-860L and DIR-868L will be later in April for $149.99 and $169.99.